Cassandra

Cassandra’s dark mood is interrupted when she is kidnapped by a community of fairies – not the sweet creatures of her imagination, but a powerful, intelligent species who view humans as dishonest mercenaries. As she struggles to find a way to return to the mediocrity of her human world, she is changed by her experiences and the relationships she forms until she is no longer sure where she belongs.If you could view humanity through the eyes of another intelligent species, would you like what you see?Cassandra’s fate is sealed when she accidentally discovers a village of fairies in the bush behind her boatshed. To prevent her from divulging the secret of their existence, the fairies – or fae, as they prefer to be called – shrink her and hold her captive. Although she is adopted into a fae family with a mother who wants only to make her happy, Cassandra refuses to accept her new life. Her one source of joy is the blossoming relationship with her adopted brother, but what hope does a human-fae relationship have when humans are hated by the fae as destructive idiots whose extinction would be a relief to every other species on the planet?Attempting to escape only serves to teach Cassandra that she has insufficient knowledge and skills for surviving in the natural environment, especially when she is less than ten centimetres tall. Acceptance of her situation and taking responsibility for her own happiness seems to be the only way forward, but it is difficult to do when she feels like an ungainly misfit amongst the beautiful and talented fae.As time passes, Cassandra finds happiness and a sense of purpose that causes her to question her place in the world.Will Cassandra be able to prove herself worthy to be returned to the human world, and if that time comes, will she even want to?The Fae of Gillwillan is set in Australia, on the idyllic Mornington Peninsula. It is the story of the search for purpose and belonging.